Star UW football player back at practice following Seattle DUI conviction

Star UW football player tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins is back at practice following his recent Seattle DUI conviction. Since then several articles have come out discussing whether he was punished severely enough by Coach Sark, or whether he is getting special treatment since he is a sure fire all-American first round draft pick. Probably more interesting than the articles themselves are the comments left by the readers. They range from the nut jobs who believe a DUI is the crime of the century to die hard Husky fans being the voice of reason.

In my opinion I think Austin paid the price for his crime. I mean he pled guilty to the Seattle DUI, he did his 1 day in jail, along with the alcohol evaluation and classes, and took complete responsibility for his actions. My question to those nut jobs is what else could he do. It’s not like he continued his case hearing after hearing in an effort to try and avoid taking responsibility for his actions. There was nothing more within reason he could have done to be accountable.

It never ceases to amaze me how when someone takes responsibility for their behavior or in this case it is still not good enough for some people. This kind of thinking reminds me of a DUI case I had a few years ago.

It was in a small town and my client was very forward with me. From our first meeting he told me that he screwed up, he was fortunate nobody was hurt, and he wanted to man up and take responsibility for his actions. So we get in front of the Judge at sentencing and the Judge starts to give my client a hard time. And is doing all this tough talk about how he is not convinced my client is sorry for his actions, and how maybe he should send him a message and lock him up.

At first I thought the Judge was almost kidding, but then I realized he wasn’t. After he was finished bullying my client, I stood up and told the client what does he expect my client to say. I told the Judge he is pleading guilty to the DUI. He has completed the evaluation and classes before the Judge imposed. He is willing to do the 1 day in jail tomorrow. I flat out told the Judge what more could he do to prove to you he is sorry for his behavior. Dont actions speak louder than rules.

When I posed that question to the Judge he didn’t really have anything to say. He imposed the man min sentence and we went on our way. But hearing all the people upset at Austin Sefarian-Jenkins for somehow not being punished enough reminded of that Judge. When an individual takes there medicine like an adult and accepts their punishment what else is there to do?

Austin took his punishment, he was contrite in his recent interview, it’s time for us to let him move on. The only difference between him and those nut jobs in the comments section is he is an all-American football player. So somehow he should be made an example of. I don’t know if its jealously or if those people are just crazies, but Im telling you as not a Husky fan. Leave Austin Sefarian-Jenkins alone. He took responsibility for his DUI in Seattle and I think a lot of people can learn something from that.

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About the author: Matthew Leyba is a DUI lawyer in Seattle. His practice focuses on representing those accused of DUI and other traffic offenses.

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